CPJ urges Iraq to probe threats against Reuters bureau chief

"Threats aimed at silencing journalists, no matter from where they come, cannot be tolerated. The Iraqi people deserve to know and to share information about the extreme violence and volatility wracking their nation," said Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, from the press freedom organisation’s headquarters in New York. "We call on authorities in Baghdad to investigate this act of intimidation and hold the perpetrators to account."

Reuters said the threats against Parker followed a 3 April report it had published about human rights abuses and looting perpetrated by Iraqi police and Shia militias in the city of Tikrit, which was largely freed from the militant group Islamic State days earlier. Parker co-authored the article.

The story described how two Reuters correspondents allegedly saw Iraqi federal police repeatedly stab an individual they apparently suspected of being an Islamic State fighter in the neck. The report said that Shia paramilitaries dragged a body through the streets behind their car. It also described other cases of looting and arson in the city.

On 5 April, a post on a Facebook group called "The Hammer" issued death threats against Parker, Reuters said. The agency cited an Iraqi security source as saying the Facebook group is believed to be linked to Shia militias. The post demanded that Parker be kicked out of Iraq. One commenter said that killing Parker was the "best way to silence him." Facebook later removed a series of threatening posts at Reuters' request, according to Reuters. ■